As we continue to advance the legacy of Henry S. Salt and Ernest Bell and promote their invaluable contributions, we’re pleased to share the latest developments from the Henry Salt Foundation. Despite facing some financial challenges and unexpected setbacks, our commitment to preserving and expanding Salt’s work remains unchanged. Here’s a detailed look at our progress over the past six months and what lies ahead for the Foundation.
1. Google Ranking: The Cost of Visibility
We’ve dedicated our research budget for this year to purchasing Google Ads with the aim of establishing the Henry Salt Foundation as the definitive and reliable source of information on Henry S. Salt. While these Ads have successfully increased our visibility and engagement, they ended up costing more than we had anticipated. Consequently, we won’t be placing any more Google Ads until 2025 to stay within our budget.
Despite ranking below the Henry S. Salt Society website on Google, our site is outperforming theirs by every metric on Google Analytics. Notably, the average page viewing time for the Henry S. Salt Society is less than 10 seconds, indicating that visitors are not engaging with their content. This is likely partly due to their site not being optimised for mobile devices. In contrast, our site sees higher engagement and longer session durations, especially on mobile, where our optimised content resonates well with a broader audience.
2. Henry Salt’s Seventy Years Among Savages, 2nd Edition
We’re pleased to announce that we’ve received some priceless documents from the late George Hendrick’s family. These documents are proving invaluable as we work on the blueprint for the 2nd Edition of Seventy Years Among Savages. They give us a clearer understanding of George’s vision for the appendices and additional content. This insight is helping us ensure that the new edition will be both comprehensive and true to George’s intentions.
3. Site Additions: Quality Over Quantity
While our budget constraints due to the Google Ads expenditure have limited the number of new additions to the site, we’ve nonetheless made significant progress. So far this year, we’ve corrected numerous mistakes and added six new articles. Our focus remains on quality and accuracy, ensuring that every piece of content enhances the overall value of the site.
4. Jon Wynne-Tyson: A Lost Legacy
As discussed in a previous post, the personal collection of Henry Salt that was given to Jon Wynne-Tyson was sold at auction to an unnamed collector and is now considered lost. Recently, we obtained a copy of Jon’s will and, unfortunately, it confirms that he made no provision for this invaluable collection. This development is deeply unfortunate and represents a significant loss to the preservation of Henry Salt’s legacy.
We remain committed to our mission and will continue to adapt our strategies to ensure that the Henry Salt Foundation remains a premier source of information and scholarship. Thank you for your continued support and interest in our work.
